In the month of October, the birth month of Mahatma Gandhi, The Mahatma Gandhi Centre (MGC) holds a special event to celebrate Gandhi’s message of peace and non-violence. This year, MGC with the assistance of International Alert invited the Nigerian High Commissioner, His Excellency S U Ahmed to recount the ‘untold’ story of Nigeria.

At the Organization of Professional Association (OPA) on October 20, Dr. M A Mohamed Saleem, President of MGC, welcoming the audience summarized the Nigerian Civil War as the fierce fight of one country to keep it from breaking.

“Of war, we have nothing to contribute,” were HE Ahmed’s introductory remarks, “but we have something to say about peace!”.

Thereafter, in an hour long presentation, HE Ahmed explained to the audience the events that led to the Nigerian Civil War that saw one of the worst humanitarian disasters in modern history and the amazing reconciliation almost at the blink of an eye.

“Nigeria did not exist until 1914,” he explained.

The creation of Nigeria is a fascinating story where hundreds of tribes found themselves under the dominance of the British. Unnerved by the close presence of the French, the British joined these territories together and Nigeria became the Mother for all these ethnicities, each with their own identity and ideology.

As Nigerians became politically mature in the new order, they formed their own political parties and agitated for independence. In 1960 they won their independence, but found themselves challenged by the awesome task of rising as an independent nation without losing their individuality.

“The differences were most pronounced between the North and the South-East,” noted HE Ahmed. “North and the South-West had their own Emirs (in the North) and Monarchs (in the South-West), where as the South-East was more or less stateless and governed by clan chiefs. The North was predominantly Islamic, governed by Islamic laws and did not easily adaptable to British ways. On the other hand, the people in the South were more exposed and more adaptable to the British ways as the British were in the South first.”

As the South-Easterners had a less rigid hierarchical structure, they were able to quickly adapt to the changing political environment and saw the advantages of missionary education and embracing Christianity. Thus, the Northerns who could not conform to English ways were largely left out of the government machinery – in both administration and military. The top government posts were hence quickly filled by South-Easterners.

“Though there are so many tribes in Nigeria, in the North the predominant group is Hausa, in the South-West it is the Yoruba and in the South-East it is Igbo. These three groups became the main players in the conflict,” explained the High Commissioner.

“It did not help that the North had three quarters of the land and apparently more than half the population (a fact that was later heavily disputed), but the Igbo from South-East had most of the top jobs in the administration and military. So who should lead Nigeria? Those with the masses or those with the credentials?

“The result was tribalism becoming the political ideology and ethnic loyalties were exploited. Politicians then made a grievous mistake enlisting the support of the military for political matters because later military became so involved in politics they decided to take matters into their own hands”.

The discovery of oil in the South complicated the issue further.

“Military coup followed counter coup wiping out much of the top political leadership. Though the reason for the military take over was said to be to end corruption and nepotism, it was really a struggle for resources,” stated HE Ahmed. “Soon the situation degraded into ethnic violence and the Igbo were expelled from the North and in response the Military Governor for the Eastern region Colonel Ojukwu declared independence of the Republic of Biafra”.

According to Wikipedia, while for the Nigerians it was a clash between Northerners and Easterners, for the international community it was a clash between Muslims and Christians. Once again Britain and France began circling around as they eyed for the oil that was located in Biafra. While Britain overtly aided the Nigerian Government, the French were more covert in assisting the rebels.

Wikipedia records that the French brought the terrible situation that arose from the blockade the Government imposed around Biafra to world attention with deliberate use of words such as ‘genocide’ and ‘a second Holocaust’. In the guise of humanitarian aid, a number of organizations came into being, but alongside the much needed food and medicines, they also supplied mercenaries, arms and other logistics for the badly outnumbered Biafra Army.

“If it was not for the International Community, the war would have ended sooner!”, commented HE Ahmed.

It was an interesting point for later a member of the audience questioned the role International Alert is playing and remarked that they had openly supported the separatist agenda of LTTE and was even expelled from Africa for supporting a group as deadly as LTTE. The Project Manager for International Alert, Mr. Amjed Saleem immediately responded and said it was not fair to hold early history against the Organization. This however was not enough to appease the gentleman who was bitter with the Organization for having worked outside its mandate.

“For two and a half years, the two sides fought fiercely,” explained HE Ahmed. “It costed the lives of more than a million civilians. But Colonel Ojukwu refused a number of offers to resolve the matter through mediations or negotiations. Then suddenly it was over. Colonel Ojukwu fled and two days later the Biafra Army unconditionally surrendered.

“The Supreme Commander Lt. Col. Gowon immediately declared that there are no victors and none were vanquished as this was just a fight between brothers. The Nigerian Army were given neither decorations or promotions and the Biafra soldiers were asked to report back to duty and were reinstated in their rank and position.

“People were asked to come back to their old homes and property. When they left, some people occupied these property. I was in primary school at the time and I am from the North, but I remember when Igbo people returned neighbors rallied and asked the occupiers to leave and return the property back to original owners”. Responding to a query from from the audience, “In some parts like Port Harcourt it was not so smooth though as the Igbo population had been higher than the other ethnicities and they were not happy to see Igbo people returning. So we had to form a commission to investigate the original owners of the disputed properties”.

A member of the audience later commented the importance of returning land to original owners, something the Sri Lankan governments had failed to implement or rather, “not implement fast enough for our liking”. Most unfortunately, because Dr. Rajiva Wijesinha who was present during the presentation bolted right afterwards the audience missed his expertise. He played an active role in the Ministry for Disaster Management & Human Rights during the Rajapaksa Government and thus could have thrown a better light to the gentleman’s comment.

“Children were sent to school, damaged infrastructure rebuilt and all derogative comments were banned. A law was brought into effect that it became a crime to blame anyone for what happened. In this way Gowon implemented his 3Rs – Reconciliation, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction,” explained the High Commissioner.

Admitting there are still hiccoughs, but on the whole the healing process had been swift and smooth because, “the Government acted quickly and decisively. They create States and now people identify themselves not as from North or South, but from their State. After graduating, they must work in a different State for a year. We have an incentive if we marry outside our State”. Outside the presentation he elaborated, “Two of my sisters are married to Igbo. Now if anyone talks of separation, how can it be done? Now, it’s difficult!”.

“Also, all government institution must be represented by all States and any ethnicity can hold any position”. Responding to a query, he explained how the country that was first divided into three ended up with 36 States, where some States are bigger than Sri Lanka, he pointed out, “Each State is given autonomy and encouraged to develop their State. So no one wants to lose that autonomy”.

The most remarkable aspect of the Nigerian Civil War is that during the War, it was very much in the International Community’s focus, which was starkly absent in the aftermath. “The reconciliation worked because we found our own solution on our own without outside help and we continue to work on it,” said HE Ahmed.

To a later question from the audience as to what role the Nigerian expatriate community played and the lessons the Tamil Diaspora can get, the High Commissioner replied, “The Nigerian Diaspora did not do anything to undermine the Government process, but in their capacities helped with the reconstruction process through finances”.

Finally, in the vote of thanks Mr. Saleem from International Alert pointed out that it is important to know of other reconciliations that has taken place so as to increase our own knowledge base. However, knowledge is the only thing we can derive as reconciliation is not something we can directly transplant or export, but something we must work out for ourselves.
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